Improvement in cars for one-rail railways



D. B. JAMES.

- CARS FOR ONE-RAIL RAILWAYS. Nov.176,8-64.

PatentedMay 2,1876.

WITNESSES PETERS. FHOTO-LITHOGRAFHER, WASHINGTON. D C.

UNITED STATE 'VPATENEVT .OFFIOE.

DAVID B. JAMES, or vIsALIA, CALIFORNIA.

IMPROVEIVIENTIN CARS FOR ONE-RAIL RAILWAYS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 176,864, dated May 2,1876 application filed January 29, 1876.

, To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID B. JAMES, of Visalia, in the county of Tulareand State of California, have invented a newand Improved Car forSingle-Rail Railway, of which the following is a specification:

This invention consists of one line of broadfaced wheels in the centerto carry the load,

- be made to gripe the rail with more or less force. The wheels areconnected with a platform which is carried only enough higher than therail to clear it properly, and the car is mounted on pivotsar'ranged inthe line of'the wheels andsupported on the platform, so .that the loadis balanced onthe wheels, and the center of gravity is lowered as muchas possible to prevent overturning. The guidewheels running against thesides of the rails are contrived to move toward and from the rails, andprovided with springs to keep them in contact. In the locomotive theymay be geared with the power, and have a lever coritrivance for gripingthe rail tightly for traction.

The essential advantage of the contrivance is the economy in the cost ofthe track that it affords, one rail only being required and that beingof wood.

Figure lis alongitudinal sectional elevation of my improved railway andcar, the section being taken on the lines as a: and w w of Fig.2. Fig. 2is a horizontal section taken on .line 2 z of'Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is atrans verse section taken on line y y of Fig. 2.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

. A is the single rail, of wood, which may be of a single timber, or itmay be shod on the top with another, to be removed from time to timewhenworn, the removable one being, say, two or three inches thick. Brepresents ties, which may be of any suitable kind. 0

represents the carrying-wheels of the car; D,

the wheels for guiding it and preventing it from overturning, the latterWheels being mounted on vertical axles F projecting down from the carbody or supports 1, so that the wheels run against the edges of the railwhile the wheels 0 run 'on the top. The axles F are mounted in bearingsG, which are movable toward and from the rail and have springs to pressthem against the rail, by which they are accommodated to variations inthe thickness of the'ra'il, and allow the car to turn curves readilywithout requiring the wheels 0 to be mounted on a pivot or fifth wheEl?V The car-body J is mounted on the pivots K upported on platform L,which is suspended mm: the axles of wheels 0, the said pivots J eingarranged in the longitudinal plane of he wheels 0 so the center ofgravity of the oad remains-more on the wheels than it otherwise would,and the car is more certain of keeping erect in case the load is nottrimmed nicely, or the car is jarred or otherwiseforced laterally. Butto prevent the car from rocking too much on the pivots, and also toprevent it from striking too hard on the platform in case it does rock,buffer-springs M are attached to the under side of the car body so as tostrike the platform, orthey may be applied to the platform sothat thebody may strike against them.

The platform will always run level on account of using only one rail andemploying the guide-wheels to direct the car, which avoids the necessityof tilting the car as on the curves of the roads of two rails, and thusthe difficulty of carrying the cars upright on a single in itslongitudinal axis and the pivots mounted 4. A singlerail railway-carhaving' side on a platform suspended on wheels G,.also arwheels workingin movable boxes and kept to ranged in the longitudinal axis of thecar,- the curving sideof track by springs, as shown substantially asspecified. and described.

2. The guide-wheels having lateral movement in combination with the railA, platform DAVID BIOE JAMES. L, and springs H, substantially asspecified. 1

' 3. The springs M, combined with the car- Witnesses: body J and theplatform L, substantially as J. E. DENNY, specified. T PHIL. RIDGEWAY.

